Women of ’76: A Theatrical Tribute to Lesser-Known Women of the American Revolution
Women of ’76: A Theatrical Tribute to Lesser-Known Women of the American Revolution brings five remarkable Revolutionary-era women to life at the UNITED Theatre in Westerly on Sunday, August 23.
Presented at 5:30 p.m. in the UNITED Main Cinema, the one-woman theatrical performance stars actor and playwright Rita Parisi, who uses period clothing, changing characters and historical storytelling to introduce audiences to women whose experiences rarely receive the attention given to the Revolution’s generals and Founding Fathers.
The performance is presented by the League of Women Voters of South County in recognition of Women’s Equality Day and the 250th anniversary of the United States.
Five Women, Five Very Different Revolutions
The American Revolution wasn’t experienced from a single point of view.
Women of ’76 follows five women from different backgrounds and allegiances, including Patriots and Loyalists and women born both in America and abroad. Some witnessed history unfolding around them. Others actively changed its course.
Among the stories is that of a Massachusetts housewife who organized an all-female militia and helped capture suspected British spies.
Another follows a German baroness who accompanied her Hessian general husband into British military camps, providing a very different perspective on a conflict usually told from the American side.
Audiences will also meet a Georgia farmer’s wife who confronted a Redcoat search party by herself.
Two additional women complete the performance, allowing Parisi to move among different regions, social positions and loyalties while examining what revolution looked like to people who weren’t sitting in the Continental Congress.
One of the Women Has a New London Connection
One story has an especially strong connection to southeastern Connecticut.
Mary Katherine Goddard, one of the women featured in the program, was born in New London in 1738.
Goddard became a printer, newspaper publisher and postmaster in Baltimore. Her place in Revolutionary history became particularly significant after the Declaration of Independence had been adopted.
In January 1777, Goddard printed the first broadside of the Declaration to publicly include the names of most of its signers.
Her own name appeared at the bottom as printer.
That detail makes Goddard an especially fitting subject for Women of ’76. She wasn’t standing on a battlefield, but she played a role in physically distributing the words and names that publicly committed the signers to the Revolution.
Her inclusion also gives Sunday’s Westerly audience a direct regional connection to the larger national story.
Rita Parisi Brings History to the Stage
Rather than presenting these stories as a conventional history lecture, Rita Parisi performs them.
Parisi is an actor and playwright who founded Waterfall Productions in 2005. For more than two decades, she has toured original solo theatrical works throughout New England, the Mid-Atlantic and Florida.
Her specialty is historical and literary performance.
Period costumes, changes in dialect, physical mannerisms and character monologues allow Parisi to move between historical figures while providing the context audiences need to understand the world surrounding them.
Her work has been supported by more than 100 arts and cultural grants, and her performances have appeared at libraries, museums, historical societies and cultural organizations around the region.
Women of ’76 is particularly suited to that approach. Instead of reducing these women to names and dates, the theatrical format attempts to restore something history books can’t easily provide: a voice.
Looking Beyond the Founding Fathers
The performance arrives during the national celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, providing an opportunity to reconsider whose stories are included when Americans talk about the country’s founding.
Women couldn’t vote. They couldn’t hold elected office. Their legal and economic rights were severely restricted compared with those of men.
Yet they operated farms and businesses, published newspapers, traveled with armies, gathered information, supported military efforts and lived with the consequences of a war unfolding around their homes.
Loyalist women complicate the story further. Independence wasn’t universally supported, and families and communities could find themselves divided by the Revolution.
By placing women with different loyalties and backgrounds together in a single performance, Women of ’76 presents the Revolution as something messier and more human than a simple procession toward July 4, 1776.
Celebrating Women’s Equality Day
The timing of the performance also connects Revolutionary history with another chapter in the long struggle over American citizenship.
Women’s Equality Day is observed August 26, commemorating the certification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which prohibited denying the right to vote on the basis of sex.
The League of Women Voters itself emerged directly from the women’s suffrage movement, making its presentation of Women of ’76 particularly appropriate.
The performance reaches farther back, asking audiences to consider women who helped shape the country generations before women gained constitutional protection for their voting rights.
Event Details
Event: Women of ’76: A Theatrical Tribute to Lesser-Known Women of the American Revolution
Date: Sunday, August 23, 2026
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: UNITED Main Cinema
Venue: The UNITED Theatre
Address: 5 Canal Street, Westerly, RI 02891
Presented by: League of Women Voters of South County
The approximately one-hour solo theatrical performance features actor and playwright Rita Parisi portraying women from different sides and backgrounds during the American Revolution.
More information is available at the Event Website listed below.
To purchase or reserve admission, click the Event Ticketing link below.
Featured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people, location, or activities shown.
